Julius Caesar and Cassius: the pre-emptive strike

Julius Caius Caesar - Nyon Suisse
Originally uploaded by Twoda74

The pre-emptive strike and the Ides of March.

The assassination of Julius Caesar was the result of a conspiracy by approximately forty Roman senators, says Wikipedia.

Led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, they stabbed Julius Caesar to death in the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BC.

Caesar was the dictator of the Roman Republic at the time, having recently been declared dictator perpetuo by the Senate. This declaration made several senators fear that Caesar wanted to overthrow the Senate in favour of tyranny.

In the US, the Bush administration first claimed the right to declare a preemptive war (see Bush Doctrine) after 2001.[27] This American claim was soon followed up with the American invasion of Iraq in the Iraq War for the purpose of preventing Iraq from developing nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare technologies.[28]